Lidl application to be debated in Torrington

A FULL planning application has been submitted on behalf of Lidl UK for a new supermarket on the site of the New Street car park in Torrington. Torridge District Council s plans committee will be considering the application at a special meeting to be hel

A FULL planning application has been submitted on behalf of Lidl UK for a new supermarket on the site of the New Street car park in Torrington.

Torridge District Council's plans committee will be considering the application at a special meeting to be held at the Howe Concert Hall in Torrington next Thursday, July 2, at 11am.

The meeting is open to the public.

Committee members will undertake a site visit before the meeting.

The application site encompasses the car park itself, Torrington Motors and a strip of disused garden to the rear of 176 New Street.

As well as the retail store and 68 car parking spaces to service the store, the proposal includes provision for a replacement car park, a new bus stop on New Street and a new crossing point across New Street.

Plans committee chairman Hugo Barton said: "Where we have planning applications that are clearly controversial, with the potential for a significant impact on the community, I think it's only right that the plans committee go to that community. Apart from our determining it in situ, this also allows more people to attend, hear the presentations, make contributions, as appropriate, and listen to the deliberations. Councils need to be as inclusive and responsive as possible and this is one way of achieving that."

Details of the application can also be found on the council's website www.torridge.gov.uk.